San Diego Firm Agrees to Limit Pop-Up Ads

A San Diego company created by two college students agreed to stop bombarding computer users with Internet pop-up ads to advertise its ad-blocking software, the Federal Trade Commission said Friday.

The FTC’s legal case against D Squared Solutions was seen as an attempt to limit an intrusive form of advertising that exploits technology in Microsoft Corp.’s Windows software.

On Wednesday, D Squared reached a settlement with the government in U.S. District Court in Maryland. A civil lawsuit was filed against the company last year.

Under terms of the agreement, D Squared will no longer send pop-up ads using the Windows Messenger Service or sell software that blocks such ads.

It is also barred from sending any ads through the Internet that do not allow computer users to choose not to receive them. D Squared also will have to let the FTC monitor its business for the next five years.

“We thought the important thing here was the message” the settlement would send, Howard Beales, director of the FTC’s consumer protection division, said. “This conduct should stop.”

The company’s founders, Anish Dhingra and Jeffrey Davis, admitted to no wrongdoing and do not face any penalties.